CIMULATED CINCINNATI — While it’s always good to have solid hitting on your team, Monday’s simulated softball game between Carroll High School and Yellow Springs High showed just how important solid pitching can be.
Florence and the Machine won this one.
The Carroll Patriots out-hit the Bulldogs, 9-8, but in a simulated game played on the pristine turf of Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, Yellow Springs pitcher Abegayle Florence fanned 14 Carroll batters, while the Bulldogs offense capitalized on 16 walks, in a 19-4 run-ruled win in five innings.
Yellow Springs enjoyed a nine-run inning in the bottom of the first, where the Bulldogs sent 15 batters to the plate. Four of those batters — Florence, Zoe Lafferty, Rebecca Spencer and Lily Rainey — collected hits in the inning, while Rosemary Bermester (twice), Florence, Lafferty, Rainey, Hailey Burk, Ava Schell and Lily Bryan each drew walks.
The Patriots pulled within six runs with scores from Skylynn Pierce, Lauren Heil, and Kate Reuter, but that 9-3 margin would be as close as they’d get.
Pierce led Carroll in hitting and scoring. She went 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of doubles, a walk and two runs scored. Maddie Erby also had two hits for the Patriots.
Yellow Springs tacked on two more runs in the second on Bermester’s single to left and subsequent out while sliding into second, which enabled Schell and Bryan to score. The Patriots Reuter doubled home Pierce with their last run, then the Bulldogs enjoyed an eight-run third, punctuated by six bases on balls and Lafferty’s grand slam to left.
Lafferty was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate, with a walk, the grand slam, five runs batted in and two scores. Florence was also 2-for-2 with two RBI, a walk and three runs scored.
DEAD RED? Turns out the coronavirus will likely hit the simulated baseball world as well. A recent moratorium on new business practices, at least for the time being, has put the licensing deal between the Cincinnati Reds, Major League Baseball and Aim Media Midwest on hold.
We’ll keep trying.
NEXT GAME: Your vote. Would you like to see Beavercreek (9-13) against Bellbrook (11-8), Greeneview (7-12) against Cedarville (2-15); or Legacy Christian against any of those four softball teams? Please send your vote to: [email protected], and we’ll play that matchup.